History of State Property

During the absolute monarchy period, all land in the Kingdom of Thailand was the absolute right of the King. He could grant it to anyone – for example, to government officials as a reward for merit or to citizens for cultivation. However, the King retained the right to reclaim (expropriate) it at any time without paying any compensation. Later, citizens were allowed to have land ownership, leading to a classification of state land that distinguished between state assets and land over which citizens held ownership. The necessity of managing state land, as well as land used for government affairs, led to the enactment of the Royal Act on the Treasury Department, R.S. 109 (approximately 1890), as a guideline for the Ministry of the Royal Treasury. The Director-General of the Treasury Department, reporting to the Minister of the Royal Treasury, was responsible for the department's affairs, which included maintaining assets held or reserved for official use, purchasing various items for official use, and selling items to various departments. These departments would agree with the Ministry of the Royal Treasury on whether to requisition money or goods, or to sell assets no longer in official use.

The Royal Act on the Treasury Department, R.S. 109, did not explicitly define which types of royal land and buildings fell under the management authority of the Treasury Department. Thus, various government agencies continued to hold land and buildings, as well as generate benefits from such land, without transferring them to the Ministry of the Royal Treasury. Until R.S. 140 (corresponding to 1921), the Deputy Minister of the Royal Treasury believed it was appropriate to consolidate state property under the sole authority of the Ministry of the Royal Treasury. Consequently, letter No. 205/23400, dated March 14, 1921, was submitted to His Majesty King Vajiravudh (Rama VI). It requested royal permission to instruct various ministries to consolidate all scattered royal land by registering it solely with the Ministry of the Royal Treasury. Ministries and departments that required royal land for specific governmental purposes could then borrow it. His Majesty King Vajiravudh issued Royal Command No. 65/507, dated March 25, 1921, approving the Ministry of the Royal Treasury to oversee the consolidation of all royal land within various ministries by registering it solely with the Ministry of the Royal Treasury for continuous record-keeping. This Royal Command No. 65/507 carried the force of law, requiring compliance from all the ministries and departments.

Even with the aforementioned royal command, practical issues persisted because the meaning of "royal land" or "state property" was not uniformly understood. Although the Ministry of Finance issued and revised the regulations concerning state property land and buildings continuously from 1922 to 1942, disputes with other government agencies remained. Furthermore, after the change in government in 1932, many new laws were enacted, such as State Administration Act, Land Reservation Act, and the Land Title Deed Issuance Act., leading to operational ambiguities and, consequently, problems in the management of state property.

Therefore, in 1975, the Ministry of Finance proposed two acts to resolve issues in the management of state property. First, the State Property Act B.E. 2518 (1975). The reason cited for its enactment was the current absence of a law governing the administration and maintenance of state property with definite regulations and criteria, which had led to several practical difficulties. It was deemed appropriate to enact a specific law for the organization of state property, granting the Ministry of Finance powers and duties in this regard to achieve economy and eliminate redundant tasks. This made the Act necessary. The second act was the Act Amending Announcement of the Revolutionary Council No. 216, dated September 29, B.E. 2515 (1972) (Issue 11) of B.E. 2518 (1975). The reason cited for its enactment was that a law concerning state property had been established, granting the Ministry of Finance powers and duties in the administration, maintenance, utilization, and legal transactions concerning state property. It was, therefore, appropriate to amend the powers and duties of the Ministry of Finance per Announcement of the Revolutionary Council No. 216, dated September 29, 1972, to align them. Thus, this Act was necessary to clearly define the powers and duties of the Ministry of Finance within the law concerning the reorganization of ministries, bureaus, and departments. Both Acts were published in the Government Gazette, Volume 92, Part 54, Special Issue. The State Property Act B.E. 2518 (1975), therefore, came into force on March 6, 1975

Definition of "State Property"

As stipulated in Section 4 of the State Property Act B.E. 2518 (1975):

Section 4 "State Property" means all types of immovable property belonging to the state, except for the following public domain properties:

1. Vacant and unutilized land, and land which has been expropriated, abandoned, or otherwise reverted to the state under the Land Code.

2. Immovable property used by the public or reserved for common public benefit, such as riparian land, waterways, highways, lakes. However, immovable property belonging to state enterprises that are juristic persons property of local administrative organizations is not considered state property.

Section 1307 of the Civil and Commercial Code stipulates: "Property of the State, whether public domain property or not, shall not be subject to seizure." It can be seen that state assets include both ordinary state assets and public domain property. Therefore, state property can be divided into two types:

1. Immovable property that is ordinary state assets not used for public benefit or reserved for common benefit, such as:

- State property acquired through seizure due to tax arrears or reverting to the state under Section 17 of the Interim Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand B.E. 2515 (1972), which is not used as a government office but is utilized to generate benefits.

- State property held by the state like private individuals, such as state property used as residences for government officials, which is not used for public benefit as a government office and, therefore, is not public domain property under Section 1304 of the Civil and Commercial Code.

2. Immovable property that is public domain property, used for public benefit or reserved for common benefit, such as government offices, forts, military barracks, city walls and moats, land reserved by Royal Command or proclamation during the absolute monarchy period, or reserved by law or proclamation under laws concerning reservation for use by ministries, bureaus, or departments, or land registered as belonging to a governmental organization (ministry, bureau, department) under the authority of the Land Code.

The term "immovable property:" what assets constitute immovable property can be considered from Section 139 of the Civil and Commercial Code, which stipulates: "Immovable property means land and things affixed to land in a permanent manner or constituting a part of such land, and includes real rights appertaining to land, or to things affixed to land, or constituting a part of such land." Therefore, state property includes all types of immovable property per the aforementioned Section 139.